A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by any one of the patent disclosure as it appears in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to cleaning means and, more particularly, to an improved paintbrush cleaning device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of paintbrush cleaning devices have been utilized in the past. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,542,025, which discloses a hand-operated paintbrush cleaner employing a pair of opposed bristle brushes in a pool of cleaning liquid. The cleaning brushes do not engage the paintbrush heel; that is, where the bristles meet the handle and where much unwanted paint tends to accumulate, U.S. Pat. No. 2,737,945 discloses a device designed to dry hardened paint to powder through the use of heating elements, while U.S. Pat. No. 3,112,505 discloses a device that combs out softened paint lumps with a rotary pin comb.
Other patents cover devices wherein cleaning is accomplished by shaking or rotating the paintbrushes themselves. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,673 discloses a paint roller/paint brush-cleaning device that comprises an open ended tubular housing and a water manifold. The water manifold produces a series of water jets that are aligned with the elongated axis of the housing and which impact either the paint roller or the paintbrush in a slightly offset fashion so that the paint roller or paint brush spins and throws off the diluted paint and the wash water.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,121 discloses a brush holder mounted on a container of cleaning fluid that includes clips for engaging the handles of one or more brushes to support the brushes so that the bristles extend vertically into the cleaning fluid. Two vertically-spaced motor-driven cranks, rotatable in synchronism with each other about vertically spaced horizontal axes include a pair of crank pins. The radii of the crank pins from their respective rotational axes are different so that so that the brush holder can be driven up and down and side-wise and a rocking action imparted to the brush and thereby to the bristles. Other patents utilize the cleaning of such objects as golf club heads, hair combs, eyeglasses and hair brushes (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,872,534, 2,082,991, 3,464,080 and 3,590,413, respectively). None of such devices provide means useful in removing paint from paintbrush bristles and heels.
There remains a need for a paintbrush cleaning device, which can easily and rapidly remove paint from the bristles of a paintbrush, along the entire length of the bristles, including the heel portion of the brush, without damaging, shaking or rotating the paintbrushes themselves. Such device should be simple, durable and efficient and be capable of being manufactured in a variety of forms to suit individual needs.
The instant invention is directed to a powered cleaning device that incorporates pressurized water jets, physical brushing action, water agitation and/or solution directional features to clean paintbrushes and satisfies all the foregoing needs. The device comprises a housing with a substantially flat bottom and upraised sidewalls defining an interior communicating with an open top. The interior includes a central space, which is preferably spaced from the sidewalls by approximately three inches (3 inches or 7.62 cm). The device may comprise a lid having an opening in which one or a plurality of paintbrushes can be releasably clamped so that the bristle portion of each paint brush hangs down into the central space for cleaning as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,912,797, hereby incorporated in its entirety by this reference.
The central space includes a pair of rotatable radial wound brushes bearing a bristle portion comprising elongated cleaning elements, such as bristles or fingers, on their outer surface. The central space and radial wound brushes are preferably configured so that the radial wound brushes are spaced approximately three inches (3 inches or 7.6 cm) from the sidewalls in order to optimize hydrostatic interactions, movement of the cleaning fluid and cleaning of the paintbrushes. The bristle portion of the radial wound brush is preferably configured in a radial spiral pattern about a support column, such that the cleaning solution is transported to the bristles and heel portion of the paintbrush via the Archimedes screw principle as the radial wound brushes rotate. Rotation is preferably imparted to the radial wound brushes by a motor connected to the housing, which may engage one or more V-belt pulleys on the housing via a drive belt.
The ends of the support columns of the radial wound brush may be secured through a removable frame in the housing to tracks or slots in the housing wall so that the radial wound brushes can be spring biased into engagement with opposite sides of the paintbrushes. The spring biasing system can also be used to assist engagement of the gear wheels on the support columns with drive gears connected to the motor. Alternately, the support columns of the radial wound brushes may be disposed in a lateral position in the housing without the use of a frame by fitting the support columns directly into a slot or onto a track in the housing wall. The support columns may also be rotatably mounted in the housing or frame via conventional bearing structures known in the art, such as ball bearings. For example, ball bearings may be fit into a tube or recess into which the support column ends are rotatably supported.
The housing interior also includes a cleaning liquid, such as water or an organic liquid, such as petroleum distillate. The device preferably comprises a bottom drain or discharge outlet, and a plurality of spaced vertically directed jet nozzles for injecting the cleaning liquid under pressure directly into the heel and/or bristles of each paintbrush being cleaned. The nozzles may be in the form of long tubes or needles connected to a manifold, which in turn may be connected to a pressurized source of cleaning liquid, such as a garden hose or an impeller pump connected to the manifold in the central space of the housing interior.
The invention is self-contained, lightweight, and may be configured to permit use in various settings such as hotels, hospitals, corporations, parks and recreation facilities, as well as on streets and highways. For example, the invention may additionally include wheels and hose connections for remote use with local water systems. The system employs airless sprayers and pressure washers that save time and energy resources, extending the useful life of paintbrushes and permits several brushes to be cleaned simultaneously. A combination of solution injection, water agitation, rotating brushes, and employing the Archimedes screw principle permits any commercially available paintbrush to be thoroughly cleaned within 90 seconds without shaking, damaging or rotating the paintbrushes themselves. The device may be used to clean paintbrushes of oil-based as well as water-based paints. Wastewater from the cleaning device may be drained via the bottom drain or discharge outlet into any gray or black water system such as an industrial sink or floor drain.
Various other features of the present invention are set forth in the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus that effectively cleans paintbrushes of oil-bases and water-based paints. It is a further object of this invention to provide an apparatus that can clean a single paintbrush or simultaneously cleans a plurality of paintbrushes. It is also an object of this invention to provide an apparatus that effectively cleans commercial paintbrushes within approximately ninety seconds. It is a further objective of this invention to provide a paintbrush cleaning apparatus that can be used automatically or semi-automatically. It is another objective of this invention to provide a paintbrush cleaning apparatus that effectively cleans paintbrushes without damaging the bristles or other parts of the brushes so that the paintbrushes may be repeatedly re-used and maintained in good condition for an extended period of time. It is another object of this invention to provide a mobile apparatus for cleaning paintbrushes. It is a further object of this invention to provide an apparatus for cleaning paintbrushes that includes a means of drying the cleaned paintbrushes.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from a review of the following specification and accompanying drawings.